Sun's Streak Ends At 6

Mystics Win At Home

June 27, 2014|By JOHN ALTAVILLA, jaltavilla@courant.com, The Hartford Courant

WASHINGTON — During the winning streak that has turned their season around, the Connecticut Sun knew one thing to be true. It wasn't going to last forever. And it didn't.

Emma Meesseman scored a career-high 22 points with 13 rebounds and Bria Hartley and Kia Vaughn added 12 points each to lead the Washington Mystics to a 69-63 win at the Verizon Center on Friday night.

The loss ended a six-game winning streak, the longest for the Sun (8-7) since they won seven straight in 2008. The Mystics (7-9) won their second straight after suffering through a four-game losing streak.

"It was a good experience for this young team, but all good things come to an end," Katie Douglas said. "We didn't come with our best effort, and the things that we can control, we just didn't do."

The Sun end this road trip Sunday at Madison Square Garden against the New York Liberty.

Douglas (18 points) led the Sun in scoring. Alex Bentley added 11 points. Chiney Ogwumike extended her string of double-figure games to 14 with another 10. But the Sun were 3 of 15 from three, hardly enough to take advantage of a worse night from the Mystics (2 of 15).

Much like Wednesday's game against Chicago, during which the Sun fell behind 24-12, the Sun were down early and big. Led by Meesseman, who was averaging just 8.1 points, the deficit was 14-2 with 6:40 to play in the first quarter. The Mystics made their first seven shots. Things were rolling.

"Washington just came out with more energy, more want-to then we did," Sun coach Anne Donovan said. "If definitely looked like we weren't ready to be on the road. We gave up too many offensive rebounds (16) and made too many mistakes."

The Sun regained their equilibrium when Washington's shots began to miss. Connecticut went on a 15-1 run over the next six minutes; the Mystics missed their next eight shots. And the Sun would have had the lead after one had Ivory Latta not drained a three at the buzzer after turnover.

The game then began to seesaw, the Sun taking a three-point lead (25-22) with 5:54 to play in the first half. Washington responded with a 9-2 run to lead 31-27 before the Sun closed out the half with a seven-point run that gave them a 34-31 lead.

Connecticut welcomed Allie Hightower (four points, 18 minutes) back; she hadn't played since the third quarter against Phoenix on June 17 when her left knee began to bother her. She played nine minutes in the first half, made her first shot and had two steals.

It was in the first five minutes of the third quarter that the Mystics finally took control. They busted out on a 15-4 run that forced Donovan to call timeout after a three by Hartley gave Washington a 46-37 lead with 4:44 to play. Meesseman, who was 11 of 14 from the field, scored again to add more to the lead before the Ogwumike finally responded.

The Sun scored only 10 points in quarter, shooting 5 of 17 from the floor. The Mystics were 10 of 21.

Hartley on Napier

Shabazz Napier had no closer friends on the UConn women's basketball program than Hartley and Stefanie Dolson. And both were naturally watching Thursday when he was first drafted by Charlotte and then traded to Miami near the end of the first round.

"I didn't really try to get in touch with him because I knew there were a thousand people trying yo get to him," Hartley said. "But I did my best to give him a shout out on Twitter. I am so happy and excited for him. If I was in his situation, I'd be excited and amazed to have LeBron James pushing for me like Shabazz had. I am sure Shabazz is proud of what he has accomplished, and I wish him the best of luck."

Hartley, who in the midst of a great rookie season, thinks Napier has the skill set to be a perfect point guard in the NBA.

"I think it's fair to say the Heat struggled at times at the point, and that's what Shabazz is," Hartley said. "He's going to have a lot of scorers around him, so he won't need to score. But we know he is capable of doing it if he needs to. It's great for any team to have a point guard like that." ... Sun guard Danielle McCray had successful surgery to repair a torn ligament in her right thumb Thursday. McCray is expected to be out six to eight weeks. … Kara Lawson (flu) and Jelena Milovanovic did not play for the Mystics.